Saturday Jan 27, 2024 Carpenteria State Beach Campground

Deb here. I’d booked 2 nights at this lovely oceanfront campground, so we knew we didn’t have a big agenda for the day. Woke up to sunny weather once again, and after a leisurely start to the morning complete with nice hot showers, we had an oatmeal breakfast in the van. John is enjoying his book about the American West, and I was ready to walk, so he stayed put and read while I ventured out on a walk.

I’d heard about the harbor seal rookery down the coastline a bit, so I walked the coastal path to check it out. The big excitement when I arrived was that there was a newly born harbor seal pup that the volunteer pointed out, and I spent some time watching the pup try to connect with its mom. The mom didn’t seem too motherly, but what do I know about harbor seals and parenting?! Apparently this spot is one of 4 harbor seal preserves in southern CA, with another one of the four located in La Jolla, where we’d been with Beth and Joe. After my walk to see the seals I ventured to the visitor center and made the short walk into town to check out a laundromat for later. 

When I returned I told John about the seals, and we both headed there to check them out. The big excitement continued to be the mother/pup combo, and she still wasn’t doing the best job of parenting. Everyone hoped the little one would make it.

By the time we returned it was lunchtime, and after PBJ’s and fresh strawberries in the van we loaded up our laundry and drove into town. John walked to the Carpinteria Historical Museum while I kept an eye on our laundry. John got the full scoop on the town’s history and the background of the tarpits. We both had a nice chat with a man who lived 30 miles down the coast, and he was a wealth of info about the area.

Post laundry, we returned to the campground. I was waiting for lower tide so I could explore the tidepools on the tarpits, and we both read for awhile. By 3 the tide had gone out a lot, so I had a lovely beach walk to check out the tidepools. A sunny Saturday meant lots of kids and families out enjoying the day, and I love seeing kids having fun on the beach.

Early evening we walked into town and had a great dinner at Siam Elephant Thai, and then back to the van for the final season 2 episodes of Reacher.